Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Quite evidently, I am very into Chairlift recently as you can tell from my recent postings – it is all about them.

It has been a long time since I got so excited about music again. Their music reminded of my younger days, when I still play the keyboard and how I always thought I could write “songs”. I can’t, but it was quite fun playing music.

There is no right and no wrong way in making music. It is how you express your thoughts. This is what I gathered from Chairlift – just have fun experimenting with music.

I read somewhere that this song was about having writers’ block. “How hard must I try for you?”

I sometimes find it very hard to start a passage. I could stuck hours on the first few paragraph at times. However once I get pass them, everything will seems to fall into place.

Erm… Due to video effects, it might caused some discomforts. I got headache watching it, but the song is nice.

This is a remix of the song. I like it too, but the guy’s low key backing is missing. I quite like that backing effect.

Here is them singing the song live!

Lyrics of Evident Utensil

The most evident utensil is none other than a pencil, Not a multicolored stencil, nor a camry crew

*How hard must I try (How hard must I try) How hard must I try for you-oo-oo You see me rolling in the dirt (You see me rolling in the dirt), You see me crawling up the walls for you-oo-oo-ooo*

The most evident utensil is none other than a pencil Writer tell me what you want from me before my paper is through

REPEATED*

How hard must I try (How hard must I try) How hard must I try for you-oo-oo You see me rolling in the dirt (You see me rolling in the dirt) You see me crawling up the walls by you-oo-oo-ooo

REPEATED (How hard must I try for you,try for you, must I try for you) for you-ooo, for you-ooo...

Saturday, March 27, 2010

I had a lot of this kind of feeling recently that something is missing in my life. Like I missed out doing a lot of things which I should have been doing.

Somehow I am needed to mature very fast, I felt. I did not have the opportunity to do things which people my age should be doing. Then again, people also tend to forget my age and set different expectations of me. Is this how Michael Jackson felt? Grow up too fast and did not get to enjoy what normal people should have been doing?

Why? Where have time gone to? What have I been doing all these years?

I walked into school with envy at times watching groups of people in their society clubs. Why didn’t I do that in school? I totally missed that phrase.

Why am I into cooking and god knows whatever couch potatoes hobbies which I had? Why am I not a least bit more outgoing? Why?

Am I really that creative? Or I shine because there are no one doing what I do. If I am really that creative, why couldn’t I produce work which real arty people does?

I am not. I am just a wannabe. Again, felt trapped. I am trapped in my body. I cannot do a lot of things because I am not normal.

Then I found out where you're sent When you're sick and sad and old They kick you off of planet health Into a universe of cold

Stop drop and roll Just stop drop and roll Stop drop and roll, Gotta stop and put out the fire

Stop drop and roll Just stop drop and roll Stop drop and roll Gotta stop and put out the fire

Feeling great tonight I am feeling great tonight I am feeling great tonight I am feeling great tonight

Meaning of the Song

Like the plot to a lost dystopian sci-fi, the song outlines life on "Planet Health" -- a place where body-image has become a tyrannical philosophy. Here, advice on healthy diet and sexuality has become law and the food pyramid has become a church. Of course non-attendance means eviction from Planet Health.

Planet Health is Mount Olympus sans the fun; a place where David Cameron and Gillian McKeith make out into eternity, never aging, never putting on weight. It's the other side of Radiohead's 'Fitter Happier', where the new caring conservatives have slapped lippy on the pig on antibiotics and called it 'sexy'.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The question says least favourite school subject, but if it was teacher, I would have chosen English. You should have seen how biased she was and the way she picked on me.

I vowed to study hard and later managed to get the highest score. Without bidding an eyelid, she claimed that it was due to her effort. In actual fact, she announced in class that she given up on me (remember?!).

:P

However, I just cannot connect with Maths. (Sorry, Mr Tan.)

Disliking Math Says You Are Expressive

You are an expressive, passionate, and spontaneous person.

For you, math is way too cold a subject. You dislike how black and white it is.

While some people have extreme passion for math, that would take far more work than you're willing to put in.

What you're into changes like the wind, and you could never be forced to choose one thing. You have to be free to follow what you love.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

A Malaysian student gave a humourous piece of speech on the topic “Life is unfair” in Chinese. He won the first prize for junior section. Hearing him, I laughed out quite hard.

Life is indeed unfair. In fact, nothing is fair. I always thought that fairness is just a competition of who eventually won the hegemony rights.

Things are just not what it seems recently. Mirages appeared one after another. Especially one can treated another sincerely and worked very hard, but yet still lost out to others. Just like I thought I nailed it, but apparently not.

Seriously, what is lacking? I could not replicate the total marks like something is missing… Like I flunked totally for one assignment.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Seriously, I struggled for some time whether I should share this place with everyone else… Located at Shaw Tower Beach Road, Ah Loy’s Thai-food eatery is definitely Singapore’s best kept secret.

In my opinion, Ah Loy is a good eatery place that any food reviewer would definitely recommend. If they don’t, they probably do not want you to find out about their secret hunt. In the name of sharing good food hunts, I reluctantly share it with you all.

You know you are in for a good treat when you see the quarto-condiments jars which contained of sugar, chili sauce, fish sauce and chili flakes powder. They just screamed ‘Sawadeeka!

Some people had already knew about the place, thus it was often quite packed during meal times. Look at the queue today! I waited for like 10 minutes for a seat. It was only 10 minutes because some of the lunch crowd could not wait any longer and gave up.

Anyway, I just want to whine about this incident that I had with Ah Loy. Weeks ago I was actually snubbed twice by them. They turned down my business because they were packed to the brim. They were supposed to be closed at 8 PM, but their last order was like 6 something PM. I was so disappointed to be turned down like that.

Then it make me madder because those eaters were not even sympathetic. They were eating heartily. They looked at me nonchalantly and I imagined that they were laughing at me in the heart that “Na nana boo boo…Yeah! We got to enjoy the food, but you were turned down. “

Good food eateries generally do not need much publicity in Singapore. They are known through word of mouth. As long as it fits two criteria, Singaporeans would patronise the place – Delicious food and good price.

I brought my mum along today. She loves spicy food, thus I know she will like the place and indeed she does. After we were seated, we need to wait for like 40 minutes for the dishes to be served.

Finally, first served was The Papaya Salad or Som Tom in Thai ($4). It was good~.Crunchy, well drenched in sauce. I like that they use whole peanut and that it was roasted before adding in which give the dish a nice smoky flavour.

I personally think it was more spicy than normal Papaya Salad in food court or any other places. However, my mum who can take more heat said that it was not really spicy. For those who cannot take spicy food, be careful with this dish.

Second up was the Pineapple Fried Rice ($4). Ok, it wasn’t as what I imagined yellowed rice in pineapple boat, but this is good stuff! In fact, I would recommend it is a must-order.

How to tell apart a good plate of fried rice? Firstly you will noticed that the rice grains do not stick together. It is also not too oily that all of it were covered with oil. Thirdly, it must have “Wok Hei” – a smoky flavour which comes from stir-flying food in high temperature.

The thing about Ah Loy is that they do not just scrimped on the quality of the ingredients just because the dishes are cheaper. I must really say the ingredients used is very fresh too. Look at the prawns – plump and succulent - hardly any odour. I must also praised them for the excellent skills for cooking squid. For once, the squid pieces were not rubbery at all! Best of all, it was cut in thick pieces.

Another must-order! Fish Maw soup. Before I described the taste, guess how much does it cost?

It comes in a relatively big soup bowl. My mum and I had two servings each. Again Ah Loy generously filled it full to the brim with fresh ingredients – comes with pretty big pieces of fish maw some more.

It cost only $3.90! For a moment, I really thought I was in Thailand. Did they direct convert the currency from baht? How do they earn profit?

Amazingly, the stock does not tasted like it contained MSG. It is a slightly sweet, light but flavourful chicken stock. Heaven-sent!

The dish which I have been dreaming of for weeks - Phai Thai, Thai-style fried rice noodles ($4.50). Like the fried rice, they had the “wok-hei” and is not overly greasy. It is not those sickeningly sweet type that you get from food court. Authentic Phai Thai should taste seafoody savoury, with crunchy bean sprouts, chives, big succulent prawns and squids.

This might looked daunting. Rather spicy, it is deep fried tilapia fish with spicy sauce ($8.90). The spicy sauce had a strong herby taste and might not be for everyone.

But if you like thai herb flavour, this is for you. There is the kaffir leaves, basil, curry leave as well. I didn’t manage to taste much as my mum almost eaten three quarter of it. Not my favourite, but ironically, I even accidentally swallowed a fish bone. (Shall not write what happened here)

Fried Sweet Potatoes Leaves ($4). Again, the cook is very good at preserving crunch of vegetables. However, it was a little too salty and would probably be ok if paired with white rice.

Business Operating Hours

Mon to Thurs - 12 Noon to 8.30 Pm.

Fri – 12 Noon to 8.40 Pm.

Saturday – starts from 1 Pm

Sunday/PH – Closed

(Be warned, last order usually is at 6 something.)

Verdict – Excellent food! Very worthwhile but still maintaining the use of good quality ingredients. Food served is also authentic Thai. Definitely a must-try!

However, promise me that when you all read about this entry, go in batches. I still want to go back to that place. There are many other dishes which I had yet to try.

Ah Loy Thai is located at Shaw Tower Beach Road - #01-39/40. Enter from the entrance near the traffic light. It is located at the pathway to Ah Yat Seafood restaurant or the walkway to Suntec City.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Slightly shaky, did not get sea sick but beautiful view made up for it… The different shades of blues from the sky and the sea.

We passed by a beautiful island with luscious greens and even a cliff. What island is that you asked? Does it belong to Singapore?

Just as I was pondering over the name, we saw the commercial part of the island – Rasa Sentosa Resort.

*Slightly disappointed* Oh…

So it was actually Sentosa! How come we never saw the beautiful natural part of the island? It could rival those beautiful island which we saw in movies.

Then we reached Batam. Luckily there was hotel transfer, else I would not know what to do. I felt insecure. Batam was so different from Singapore. It was very rural.

It is very common to see a few lone building sprouting along stretches of undeveloped land. I get chills just by looking at it. I cannot imagine myself walking along the streets.

I was curious about the Jaguar sign board and for a moment thought Jaguar had instill a plant in Batam., Turned out to be a “spoof” factory. It was a body painting company name Jaguar, not really the luxurious car brand Jaguar.

Frankly, just hours into the trip, I began to miss home. There is no place I rather be than Singapore. I am glad I am a Singaporean!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Remember I went Batam last December for Holiday? Well, I will gradually post the photos up. First, see this interesting thing.

Monopoly The Board Game – Indonesia Version

What so special you ask? Their most expensive plot was 400 million dollars! Wow…

Well, one of the problems which I encountered in Indonesia was the currency. There were all in very big denominators. I mean they were minimum hundreds (coins), thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands. Who usually count such big numbers? I always have problem counting the currency and trying to made out to how much they are in Sing dollars.

I reckoned Indonesians were good mathematician since they count everyday like that. See, they trained their kids to count big denominators from young.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

I am not an American Idol fan, but happened to stop at Channel 5 for a while just now and I heard an interesting voice. It was Lacey Brown singing Brandi Carlile’s The Story.

She has got an unique voice and I think it was a great cover of the song. However, if i was a bit picky, I think her voice kinda of floating around too much that it sounded somewhat off the tone.

Agreed with Simon that the whole performance was lifted by her eye contact with the camera. She knows where the camera are and she kept her attention on it.

For those who wish to listen to the original singer, here is Brandi Carlile’s version. It was started melancholy, but evolved into rock after the entry. Kinda of cool!

Brandi Calile - The Story

All of these lines across my face Tell you the story of who I am So many stories of where I've been And how I got to where I am But these stories don't mean anything When you've got no one to tell them to It's true...I was made for you

I climbed across the mountain tops Swam all across the ocean blue I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules But baby I broke them all for you Oh, because even when I was flat broke You made me feel like a million bucks You do and I was made for you

You see the smile that's on my mouth It's hiding the words that don't come out And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed They don't know my head is a mess No, they don't know who I really am And they don't know what I've been through like you do And I was made for you

All of these lines across my face Tell you the story of who I am So many stories of where I've been And how I got to where I am But these stories don't mean anything When you've got no one to tell them to It's true...I was made for you

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Just as I was going to bite through my hotdog bun, I saw this advertisement on the table. Immediately, I lost my appetite and felt guilty about my choice of lunch. Not that there was much choices at the venue but there it was reminding me how hard it was being slim.

Maybe all women would be able to relate to it, but as a fat girl trying to be healthier – I feel especially for it.

Hai~ Sony… Since when are you all into health industry?

The VAIO laptop advertisement reads “It’s tough to be slim.” It even added in the small print “Being lean without seemingly fragile appears to be today’s ultimate goal”.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

For the past few weeks, I have been forcing myself to wake up earlier to get them. For one reason or another, I did not manage to satisfy my cravings.

Well, I woke up quite early on some days, but especially weekends, the prospect of having worrying what to wear and putting on full face make-up just to travel a short distance to MacDonald puts me off.

Yes, I understand perfectly – lazy bird does not get the worm. Big Bird especially needs to go on Diet not worm anyway.

I know we are supposed to eat heartily for breakfast, but the breakfast deluxe portion is just too big. I felt that it was too loaded with carbohydrates. While I could not finish it, but one of my colleague did. She scolded me wasteful for throwing half of the hotcake away which I retorted that she would grow fat. Amazingly, she went on to order carbs-loaded fried rice for lunch! Seriously, where did all the fat go? I couldn’t find them on her body.

Sometime in life, one might be happier to have their wishes or craving unfulfilled. They tend to stay perfect in the person’s imagination. It can be extremely disappointing when the things you wanted so much turn out to be different from what you want.

Alright, feedback to MacDonald:

Could you all reduce the carbohydrates in the breakfast deluxe set? Why not give us more sausage meat than having two hot cakes… One group of food category is not there if you notice – fruits and vegetables! Why not offer apples on the side?

Then one important thing – the coffee sucks!

I mean you all are already charging us that much for breakfast set but we are still willing to pay it. Why not do us a favour? Give us a healthier breakfast set with stuff from all food categories?

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Saw this video on MTV yesterday. I was so amazed by the celebrities they managed to gather for this project – We are the World 25 for Haiti.

As usually, I did a search on YouTube and found that Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie did something similar decades ago – USA Africa project.

Though the Haiti version has incorporated more genres and elements, but the structure is still somewhat similar to the old version. It reminded me of postmodernism theory which we learnt sometime ago. I would definitely argue that Haiti version has a postmodernism shadow in it.

We are the World – Haiti Version

We are the World – USA Africa Version.

Can I just ask - what with the brown “panty hose” popper in the old version? Huh? Professional popper screen are not invented then?

*For those who don’t know, popper are placed in front of the microphone to minimise the “pop” and “hiss” sound which singers make when pronouncing certain words.

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